Arts and Environmental Activism

Professor Juli Carson awarded $120,000 to the UC multi-campus climate action initiative

Juli Carson, professor of art and director of the University Art Galleries (UAG) at UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts, has received a $120,000 University of California Office of the President (UCOP) Multiple Campus Award. Carson joins The UC Climate Action Arts Network (CAAN), a nine-campus initiative led by UC Santa Cruz art professors Karolina Karlic and Jennifer Parker, with The Art of Resilience UC Climate Action Arts Network: Engaging California’s Publics for Change. 

The initiative explores the intersection of art and environmental activism through community engagement, interdisciplinary collaborations, exhibitions and public programming. Supported by the University of California’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI), CAAN unites scholars and artists across the UC system to explore the role of art in climate justice and sustainability.

“It’s an honor to participate in The Art of Resilience and to collaborate with an extraordinary team of artists and scholars across the UC system,” said Carson. “We extend our gratitude to the entire Art of Resilience team for this incredible opportunity to innovate at the intersection of art and climate action.”

In addition to this effort, Carson will lead The Neganthropocene: Art, Intervention, Archive, a three-year project inspired by Bernard Stiegler’s book. Stiegler’s work proposes artistic strategies to disrupt and counteract the lack of order in the Anthropocene. Carson’s project, in turn, will unfold through exhibitions, faculty and student-driven programming and an open-source archival platform.

“We are very proud to continue the UAG’s 60-year legacy with this unprecedented initiative,” said Carson.

Through Carson’s interdisciplinary work, UC Irvine further strengthens its commitment to research and creative inquiry that address pressing environmental challenges.

For more information on The Art of Resilience, visit news.ucsc.edu. To learn more about Juli Carson’s work, visit her Department of Art bio page here.